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Movies | Written by Andrew Pollard 21/09/2017

Taika Waititi in Talks to Direct AKIRA

One of our favourites directors of the past few years has been Taika Waititi, and so it has us all kinds of intrigued and excited to hear that the New Zealander is in talks to helm Akira.

As per Deadline, Waititi is currently in negotiations with Warner Brothers to helm their upcoming live-action adaptation of Katsuhiro Otomo’s famed anime. Previously, Get Out’s Jordan Peele was on board to direct, with Daredevil’s Marco J. Ramirez was also working on the script. Other names linked to the director’s chair have been Lights Out’s David F. Sandberg and Life’s Daniel Espinosa, although it now appears that Waititi – the genius creative mind behind such wonderful efforts as Eagle vs. Shark, Boy, What We Do in the Shadows, Hunt for the Wilderpeople and the upcoming Thor: Ragnarok – is the new frontrunner for the gig.

The last we’d heard was that the current plan was for Akira to be developed as a two-film affair, with the property itself beginning as a six-volume manga from Otomo before Otomo himself then developed an iconic 1988 anime.

For years new, the loose synopsis tied to this long-gestating new take on an old favourite has read: Set in a future city environment called New Manhattan, the sci-fi epic follows the leader of a bike gang who must save his best friend, who has been experimented on by the government causing him to develop, dangerous and destructive psychokinetic powers.